Report: McNabb asked for release when Webb moved ahead of him

Posted by Michael David Smith on December 2, 2011, 12:20 PM EDT

AP

Donovan McNabb remained willing to play the part of the loyal soldier when he was benched in favor of Christian Ponder this season. But losing Minnesota’s No. 2 quarterback job to Joe Webb led McNabb to seek his release.

In other words, three different coaches in the last 20 months have concluded that McNabb was the third-best quarterback on the roster: Andy Reid preferred both Kevin Kolb and Michael Vick, Mike Shanahan preferred both Rex Grossman and John Beck, and now Leslie Frazier has chosen both Ponder and Webb over McNabb.

It’s easy to see why McNabb wouldn’t want to be a third-stringer, but it’s also easy to see why Frazier would promote Webb above McNabb on the depth chart. The Vikings aren’t going anywhere this year, and Webb is a young guy with talent. If Ponder gets hurt late this year, it would make a lot more sense to see what Webb can do than to put McNabb back in for a few meaningless final games.

Vikings offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave said on Thursday that the coaching staff thinks highly of Webb and thinks he has a future as a quarterback in Minnesota. McNabb has no future in Minnesota, and the only question is whether he has any future anywhere.

McNabb did bank a lot of money for little or no effort on the field. I hope that the positive talk from Vikings players and coaches about how he was contributing to Ponder’s development are true, then he won’t have been “stealing” his paycheck (which is frankly an impossibility of fact).

Lets face it, this was a bad idea to begin with.
This team has to stop looking to the past (Moss, Favre, McNabb…) and think about the future.
I believe Ponder can do the job, but until they upgrade their OL, WR and DB positions, they will be stuck in the NFC North basement.

My question is, why would ANY team sign him at this point? I think any team that does is foolish. The bears are in big trouble with hanie, but I’d take him over mcnabb (does anyone still think the redskins were crazy for questioning his ability to learn the play book? And that was with a full offseason.. Yikes)

Problem with McNabb is that he keeps going to these teams that think they are on the cusp of success when they are not even close. Perhaps they are just getting the wrong “old but still have something in the tank” veteran in McNabb.

Well I hate to disappoint so here it goes. The Packers are better than the Vikings in every aspect. Even their hotdog vendors are better, the guys who take your money for parking are better.

Feel better now ?

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A solid 12 minutes… not bad, not bad. Now the floodgates can officially open. Let’s see how much the Vikes can get needlessly and pointlessly lambasted for the rest of the day again today… aaaaaanddd… GO!

As a Vikings fan the real shame was the investment placed in McNabb in the first place this year.
Any hopes that he was going to turn out to be an effective NFL QB this year were purely wishful thinking and not even close to an intelligent decision.

Yep, we all know that Shanahan knows what he’s doing. After all, he proclaimed loudly that Beck would take them to the playoffs. OK, missed by… that … much. McNabb’s problem everywhere he’s been is that he was not arrogant or pampas enough to “own” his team and become vocal about being the leader.

I do not buy that he couldn’t learn the playbook or that he’s lazy. Has his skills diminished over time? Who’s haven’t? But judging by the QB-ing I ‘ve seen in the NFL, he can still play. Remember, Shanahan also ran Campbell out of town and he was doing OK in Oakland before the injury. How can you take his word for anything?

Minn has a lot more wrong than the QB position. They drafted a guy way too high and their defense stinks. With a new coach and stadium issues, they decided they’re in the rebuilding mode. It’s a franchise in turmoil and Donovan didn’t create that.

avianflew says:Dec 2, 2011 12:51 PM

Stop with the P.C. praise and waiting for him to be a great “analyst” .

He’s an over the hill, overrated blowhard choke artist who doesn’t even know some simple rules of the NFL

Kya_Tropic_Fan says:Dec 2, 2011 12:52 PM

jimbotmn says: Dec 2, 2011 12:25 PM

Over/under on how long it takes for smarmy Packer fans to make pointless comments about how much better they are, just like every other Vikings-related article…?
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Its better than smarmy Steelers fans leaving those comments on every story. 31 fan bases understand that the Packers have the most Championships. The Steelers fans pretend there is no such thing as a Championship if it doesnt involve the Lombardi Trophy. Just saying. And no, I am not a Packers fan.

The real question is why wasn’t Webb at least number 2 from the get-go. Webb hasn’t had much time behind center, but the time he put in last year was good enough to have at least garnered him some consideration for the starting position after McNabb was benched.

Yeah, I know the team spent a high pick on Ponder, and I like what I’ve seen from him to this point. But Webb is athletic and can throw with accuracy, and he deserves more than an occassional wild-cat snap.

did anyone watch the eisen interview? damn Donnie Graybeard !! lol . You would think Mcnabb could’ve dropped 50 cents on a razor, going on cam in front of the whole country.big bum lol he looked like a washed up old character from the WB network. rusty Bebe’s kid QB

thebigkahuna23 says:Dec 2, 2011 1:12 PM

As a skins fan I can say McNabb is a guy who doesn’t deserve any hate for how he handles offfield things. He’s handled himself with class through everything. That being said he should realize it’s time for him to hang ‘em up. I wish him well wherever he goes but it doesn’t look optimistic for him.

Hes done as a starter,he will get a reality check this summer when no teams wants him……….vince young ditto hes a career back up too ……..and can someone make sure young knows his colors because he was confused with the green jerseys and white jerseys last night

I doubt anyone claims McNabb. Why not bring him in for a tryout and talk to him before you commit any money at all to him. See what kind of shape he’s in.

I don’t think he’s going to fit in well with any contending teams. He is a dork that tries to be funny but really isn’t. He won’t blend in in the Bears locker room, or in Houston either. I don’t think he realizes he sucks and nobody wants to hear him talk any more. To help a team he would have to swallow his pride and just show up and play smart. He could never just play ball when he was good so how’s he gonna do it now.

So, all of a sudden 60% passing, an 82 QB rating, 4 TDs to 2 Int’s means you should retire and you’re washed up? Guess painter, that other colts QB, Palko, Hanie, Gabbert (completing 48% passing), Kolb and Skelton in AZ, his replacement Ponder (1-4) and TJ Yates didn’t get that memo. Is he great no? But he can play just as good if not better than most of these guys. A couple of them will always be backups or soon out the league. Not to mention, how are all those teams that replaced him doing with the replacements? Any of them clearly better off and winning more games? NO, which means they already sucked to begin with and it wasn’t all him. He need to do like Kurt Warner and find a place that fits his skill set and can cover his faults but he’s far from the worse we’ve seen and his numbers are better than a bunch of guys currently starting. At least you know he won’t turn it over. Again, he’s definitely down but not out quite yet with as many bad qbs that are playing

blackqbwhiterb says:Dec 2, 2011 2:10 PM

Donovan, you had a nice career, made a lot of money playing a game, now it’s time to move on, I think….don’t turn this into a Favre-ish kinda deal…..

bangitfootball says:Dec 2, 2011 2:57 PM

Donovan you just basically stole 5 million from the vikings. Just go away quietly and have soup with mommy on sundays from here on out.

Good thing the skins dropped mcnabb since he was holding them back from winning….. oh wait they still lose
Well at least the vikings are winning with Ponder now that Mcnabb is gone….. oh wait 2 wins
Well the eagles have been better off without him……damn they went downhill after he left too

Well crap

melikefootball says:Dec 2, 2011 3:52 PM

An awful lot of coverage for a QB the Eagles had enough of and then the Redskins and now Vickings . If he could not make the plays for teams going down hill why would a contender even consider McNabb????

sj39 says:
Dec 2, 2011 12:32 PM
McNabb should just admit he’s had a very mediocre career, be glad he made a ton of money for it and go away.

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Certainly McNabb was not the answer in MN this year, but comments like this are, frankly, just stupid. Lets start with 4 straight NFC Championship game appearances, 1, Super Bowl, and multiple Pro Bowl appearances. That’s a fairly decent career by any measurement I can think of.

True, he didn’t ever WIN a Super Bowl. Neither did that other “mediocre” QB. Began with an M? um…Marino, that’s it. yup, he pretty much sucked as well, right?

The fact that the Vikings drafted Ponder and think he’s the future isn’t inconsistent with the statement that Webb may have a future as a QB in MN too. The key is your other statement. “Barring injuries.” In case you haven’t noticed, NFL QBs get injured A LOT.

It is important to have a backup who can come in and do the job but who isn’t the kind of star who can go somewhere else and demand huge money to start. The nice thing about Webb is that he’s got a skill set where he can contribute in other ways than just running the scout team and holding a clipboard waiting for the starter to get hurt.

macwomack says:Dec 3, 2011 12:38 AM

dionoil says:
Say what you want about Andy Reid, he’s good at getting rid of guys just before they go into the toilet